Gabe Carimi put on IR, out for the season

Bears injured rookie right tackle is out for the season after the Bears placed him on injured reserve, a week after Carimi suffered a setback in his rehabilitation from the partially dislocated kneecap he suffered in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints.

Levi Horn, a second-year tackle from Montana, was promoted from the practice squad to take Carimi's place on the roster.

The ending of Carimi's season was not a big surprise after the setback in his rehab, but a disappointment nonetheless. Even in just the six quarters he played this season, Carimi was considered the Bears' best offensive lineman.

"Disappointed yes, but he's been out a while,'' Smith said. ''We've played most of the season without him. Gabe eventually will be a great player for us. But right now other guys have stepped up and we've moved on.''

Smith also indicated that nickel back D.J. Moore likely will not play against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday at Soldier Field because of an ankle injury he suffered in practice on Wednesday. He is listed as doubtful.

''He hasn't responded the way we wanted,'' Smith said. ''We'll see how it goes. If he has a miraculous healing or something between now and then, we'll consider letting him go, but it's not looking good.''

No TrackBacks

TrackBack URL: http://blogs.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/43995

7 Comments

What's with the Bears' first round O-linemen picks?First Williams and now Camini! Let's hope the subs can raise their level of play. San Diego has a world of talent, and why they have struggled is odd. Perhaps Cutler can have a big day like Aaron R. did; he had best put some points on the board because I suspect Rivers certainly will.I have disliked Rivers from the first time i saw him because he looks like a conceited and arrogant ass both on the sidelines and on the field. I hope the Bear Defense sacks him and knocks him around throughout the game.

Well that just sucks. I think in the end, the lack of an off-season hurt Carimi. Hopefully what will essentially be a redshirt year will help him long term.

I wonder where Horn goes on the depth chart? Do you know Sean? I'm getting a sense that Omiyale has fallen pretty much out of the picture.

His (Horn) situation is tough for me to read. He has been around the team for a couple years now. You would think that means that the Bears like him. Why else spend that much development time on a player? Usually a PS player has to show some ceiling or they bring in other prospects to evaluate? To keep a developmental player that long seems significant.

That message says they feel Horn could help the team. But then they did the whole tryout circus this last couple weeks, which says they are not satisfied with "next guy up" when the next one is Levi Horn. And then they elevate Horn?

This could matter. He may be the next guy up if Webb or Louis go down.

Can't say I'm surprised at all. It is week 11, after all, and the Bears have been improving on the line without him (even though the line still can't be graded out as "good" overall, or even "average" by PFF). And, I have to wonder if after the scope, it was determined by the docs that he needs more surgery to tighten up that MPFL, or maybe he had that surgery while they were in there. I guess the good news is that he'll have plenty of time to rehab and be ready to go for spring with a stronger kneecap.

As for the line, I'm not as worried about Chris Williams since, while he has been improving and his run blocking was OK, he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. Edwin Williams should be a very capable plug-in at the G spot. My worry now is that Omiyale is the primary backup tackle and, as has been well documented, that guy is plain awful. I guess there were no good FA T's on the street, but can Levi Horn really play in this offense at a high level?

Now I'm really getting eerie flashbacks to Marc Colombo....Hopefully, Gabe is going to be all right, and ready to go in the offseason program and into training camp next season. It would be a shame for 2 of our 3 1st round tackles in the Angelo regime to get derailed by a dislocated knee...

The bigger problem in my opinion is having Lance Louis out at right tackle, and Webb at left tackle for the rest of the season. neither of them are playing well enough for us to be a playoff team, and Webb is likely to get Cutler killed if he keeps taking so long to get out of his stance. The Bears need to strongly consider an OT in the first or second round in the upcoming draft, but with the way the roster is shaking out, there may be a lot more holes to fill come March.

Gabe Carimi going on IR is a major let down, but, I think we all seen it coming. Its probably for the best anyways. Now he can get done to his knee what needs to be done, and should be better off long term wise for the Bears. I still think he was the best tackle drafted, had he stayed healthy, he probably would have had a heck of a rookie season. The emergence of Lance Louis also was a big reason the Bears can put Carimi on IR and didn't have to force him back to early.

With Carimi down, the Bears can also take a closer look at Levi Horn, maybe Horn can develop into the next swing tackle and push Frank Omiyale off the roster next summer. Horn had a pretty good pre-season and could be ready to take the next step and maybe become a contributor as at least a swing tackle?

You gotta give Mike Tice a lot of credit for Chicago's depth up front, the Bears have 2 starting offensive linemen on IR, for most teams that would mean your season is shot, and still seem to have enough depth to make a run. Again, a lot of this is probably due to Tice and his ability to evaluate linemen. Both Chris Williams and Carimi go down, and Chicago has some nice depth in Chris Spencer and hopefully Edwin Williams to plug in and pick of the slack. To replace Carimi and Williams on the 53-an roster, Chicago simply moved up 2 practice squad guys in Levi Horn and Ricky Henry who are both young, look to have upside, and were obviously better than anyone on the street. You gotta give Tice most of the credit for this depth and personnel moves on who to keep and let go, the guy knows his linemen GO BEARS!!

Use this valuable time off to strengthen your upper body and your core. Do not sit around and get fat. Get together with Stephen Paea and let him show you how to get as strong and as chiseled as possible. Come back stronger, leaner, tougher, and more determined next year. Good luck with your recovery and rehab.

Kevin I am a little lost with your post. You want to give Tice credit for the depth on the line right? And you say because two starters have gone down that he deserves credit for the depth. But last I checked they have only played 1/2 a game without 2 starters and they were really bad. Cutler only had about 19 drop backs and was pressured 14 times and they got killed in the run game and it wasn't because of Forte.

Now if the line is so improved, why do they play so much max protect? Now before they lost two guys they were playing max protect. My point is your giving credit to Tice and I think that is fine because he has done some good work, but your giving credit to him for the wrong reason. Did you think the offense played well the last game, with two guys down? Did you thik they played well at all? Cause they were pretty bad.

As for Spencer that was a well known Ruskell move, he drafted him in Seattle. So right now you are giving them credit for playing a bad game with two guys down, Chris Spencer who was a Ruskell move, and using max protect cause the line could not execute the plays. This isn't me trying to fight with you it's that I just fail to see the point of your post. Simple rule in the nfl, you don't max protect when your line is good, you might do it on some plays but not two thirds of them. You might have an extra blocker chiping on a lot plays but not 7-8 man protection. You lose to much of your offense that way and that's what you saw in the last game.

Nnow I don't think he has done a bad job, I think he has helped a lot with pulling, and he helped get the scheme adjusted so Cutler is not getting killed. But I would not say he has made his players much of anything.

If I was to do the line pro's and con's I would say this. They are limited in what they can do so they play max protect. Louis has surprised me at tackle, he has not been been great or even good, but he has had a couple of nice games and a couple of bad games. I don't think Louis is a guard I think he gets handled by the bigger DT's but against ends who are smaller and faster he can use his quick feet and he plays with a nice mean streak. I also take into consideration he has never played tackle. So as a backup tackle I think he has done a pretty decent job although the offense is limited. You know in the Eagles game he got a lot of credit, but the eagles have no heart, and the guy who really played well was Webb. Nobody said anything about him really and that's a good thing because you don't want to talk about your O-Line, it's usually a bad sign. I have been pro Spencer but I will admit he has been bad the last two games, not sure if it's hand or who was playing against but he was bad. Webb has had a couple of good games this year, the Carolina game and the Eagles game, but for the most part has struggled. Chris Williams only had two good games this year as well and was getting killed in the Detroit game before he got hurt, he played well against Carolina and was the only guy who played well against the Saints, but that's about it. Garza has improved at center but he is still pretty bad their and has not helped the interior run game at all, his pass blocking has been ok, but his run blocking has been scary bad on the inside and he is not pulling well either.

That's what I have seen, you can say they have been great but if you have to play max protect and run a limited offense then you have a problem.

I would just like to say real quick that I am glad to be talking football, cause I could not take anymore of the Penn state nightmare,it literally makes me want to kill someone or someone's. I have been sick to my stomach about that and this is such a nice break for me. Sounds stupid I know but it is such a draining SNAFU. It's just been nice not to think about it for a few minutes.